How to cut costs in your recruitment process
As the UK is facing both a skills shortage and economic instability, cost effectiveness in recruitment is more important than ever.
The expenses incurred through the recruitment process in the form of advertising, agency fees, company time and resources, any charges for interview rooms, as well as onboarding and training costs, can add up to a considerable outlay. According to CIPD, the average cost to hire in the UK is £6125, rising to £19000 for more senior and management roles.
However, the cost of recruitment also includes the cost of an empty seat, the cost of temporary staff to cover the vacancy, and loss of productivity while the new hire gets up to speed. Therefore, the longer the whole process takes, the more cost you’ll incur – saving time in your recruitment process also means saving money.
As an added advantage, a quicker, more efficient recruitment process is also preferable for candidates, too, meaning you’re not only saving yourself money, but strengthening your employer reputation as you do so.
Here are our suggestions for cutting costs and streamlining your recruitment process.
Be strict on timeline
The average length of a recruitment process in the UK, according to research carried out by Totaljobs, is 6.4 weeks, with 25% of businesses finding a lengthy process a challenge. Of course, the time to hire is dependent on a number of factors, including the skills required, salary, geographical area, and industry sector.
While there are some parts of the process you have little control over, the areas you manage should be made as quick, smooth, and streamlined as possible.
For example, efficiencies can be built into the application consideration and sifting process. Carefully plan your recruitment process to ensure applications are considered quickly, and as closely after any deadlines as possible to allow for interview stages to follow promptly.
Tech solutions such as Applicant Tracking Software can help to sift applications, as well as the use of scheduling tools to ensure the relevant team is gathered to make decisions on applications.
Choose quality over quantity
When sifting applications, be firm about the number of interviews you can hold. Costs associated with interviews such as administration and scheduling time, room hire, refreshments etc. as well as the time high-level staff are away from their normal roles to sit on interview panels can be significant when every applicant that meets the basic criteria is invited for interview.
Instead, invest some time into considering applications on a deeper level, and select only the most experienced, most qualified, or most interesting applicants. Be careful to avoid any unconscious bias in this process by removing any identifying information such as names, ages, nationalities or other information that might affect your judgement of a candidate.
Maintain a talent pool
Advertising for positions can be a significant expense, so any ways that reduce the need to use costly agencies or pay for ad space are going to be worthwhile.
A talent pool or network of people who could potentially be suitable for your business is a great way to reach candidates, so it’s important to ensure talent networks are maintained.
For example, the applicant who wasn’t quite right for your last vacancy might be perfect for your next one, so it’s important to ensure that contact is maintained with previous applicants. Students and soon-to-be graduates are also excellent people to engage and keep in contact with via specified mailing lists.
By building and maintaining a talent pool of potential candidates, you’re more likely to find qualified, engaged, applicants for your next opening without the high advertising costs.
Thorough onboarding & screening
While initial outlay for extra onboarding and screening might seem to be increasing recruitment costs, in the long run you’ll likely see a number of benefits, including lower overall costs.
One of the biggest causes for high recruitment costs is high employee turnover. Therefore, it makes sense to target the cause and work at ensuring you’re hiring the right person in the right way.
An in-depth and well planned onboarding period helps new hires to feel more comfortable in their role and their workplace, feel more valued and therefore more loyal, and be more able to reach full work capacity sooner.
Thorough screening helps you to identify candidates that may pose a risk to your business, by highlighting any discrepancies between the experience and qualifications they have put forward and the records and references that former employers and training institutes provide.
Cut costs and improve candidate experience with Reed Screening
By streamlining some parts of the process and investing more time into others, you can cut recruitment costs considerably, and at the same time provide a smoother, more thorough, and more engaging experience for applicants.
At Reed Screening, we have years of experience in providing fast, smooth, and thorough employee screening and background checks for workers of all kinds.
With screening and checks happening 24/7, we can vet your candidates within a timescale that suits your business, and our AssuredID service offers an easy and accurate way to verify a candidate’s ID digitally and remotely.
For more information, get in touch with our team.